35th Birthday ~ cupcakes & cards

Last week we celebrated 2 more April family birthdays....from a distance that is.  

 It was actually more of a quick drive-by birthday to drop off cupcakes and presents through the window of our car. A Party on Wheels as I like to call it.

I made a couple of birthday cards for the occasion. The guitar was fun however I had a hard time figuring out what to use for the strings. I really did not want to stand in a long line just to get into a craft store and possibly not find anything that would work so I started looking at what I had on hand. Eventually I found a spool of metallic thread in my supplies that was perfect.  

Once I had the Guitar card finished it was time to make a Cat card. It started out as a simple cat quilt block which was inspired by a picture I had seen in a quilt magazine. I adjusted the size and of course cut it out of paper instead of fabric, although that would have been cute as well. To dress it up I added a party hat which made it a bit more festive. I needed a background paper so I stamped some card stock with ink and bubble wrap and added some punched dots to match. It was almost finished when I found out that not everyone could tell it was a cat. Well, that was disappointing.

I love the simple, clean look of the cat quilt block however I decided I better be sure that the birthday girl could tell it was a cat.

So I added some eyes and whiskers which seemed to help.

The His and Her cards were finished.

This happened to be their 35th birthday so I decided to make them some cupcakes and what better than funfetti cupcakes. 

Even though their birthdays are thirteen days apart it was a celebration for both of them since we have only seen each other online since the beginning of the quarantine. 

It wasn't nearly as much fun as getting together for a special birthday dinner but at least we saw each other in person which was great, even if it was only from inside the car. 

Have a Happy & Healthy Wednesday!

cookie + craving = chocolate chip cookie ~ for "1"

It is a rare occasion when we run out of sweet treats around here however it does happen every once in awhile. It never lasts more than a day or so and there is always ice~cream in the freezer and homemade chocolate fudge sauce in the frig for back up. This time though ice~cream would not do, even with warm chocolate fudge sauce drizzled over the top. I had a particular craving, which was for chocolate chip cookies, but before I started baking I decided to ask the 

hubs what type of cookies sounded good to him and it wasn't 

chocolate chip.

He thought Chocolate Crinkle Cookies sounded great, which they are, however I had my heart set on chocolate chip and could not convince myself otherwise. So, in order to please both of us, I decided to make a batch of Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

AND a

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE for "1"

because one is all I really needed anyway.    

To make my little treat I mixed up a reduced batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and then tossed in a few chopped pecans just for fun.  Once the dough was ready I scooped it into a small ramekin and put it in the oven to bake while I mixed up a batch of Chocolate Crinkle Cookies aka: CCC's. 

The Chocolate Chip Cookie for "1" turned out perfect. While my personal size cookie was cooling I baked the CCC's. 

The Chocolate Chip Cookie for "1" was delicious. Not too big, not too small, but just right! As for the Chocolate Crinkle Cookies they are going fast so, between the two of us, it looks like we will need a new sweet treat very soon. 

Happy Thursday!

Ham Soup.... X's 3

If you have a leftover ham bone you might want to make soup

and if you are making soup you might want to make 3 different types.

At least that is what Mr. Wonderful did last week.

He wanted to make soup with our leftover Easter ham bone but could not decide which type he wanted more so he made three different kinds, which is not surprising. 

His motto, as we know, is: Go Big or Go Home! 

While he was gathering ingredients to get started he discovered we were low on lentils so I ran to the store to buy a new package however the shelf was empty. This new normal still catches me off guard. I was determined though so I tried another store and, you guessed it, they were out too. My general feeling is two strikes and your out because chances are high that everyone will be out of that product so I headed home empty handed and a bit disappointed. However, on my way back I decided to give New Seasons a try, which is very close by. I did not have much hope in finding any but to my surprise they had 2 bags left. It was perfect. Nowadays, if you happen to find a product in high demand it feels like you've struck it rich! Lucky for us, the Ham and Lentil soup was back on the menu.

When Mr. Wonderful cooks he likes to make it up as he goes and really does not use a recipe, per se, so your guess is as good as mine as to what is in all three however, I do have a rough idea what he used. The Ham and Lentil soup had carrots and celery, the Ham & Potato included onions and celery and the Ham and Vegetable had just about everything but the kitchen sink. Actually, I think it is safe to say that it is full of assorted chopped fresh vegetables and some frozen corn and beans. 

As you can imagine we had a lot of soup by the time he was finished. Of course we wanted to try them all so we had a bowl of each for dinner and all three were wonderful! Even though spring is here we have definitely had some "soup weather" mixed in with the warm sunny days however when the weather is nice Mr. Wonderful is usually outside grilling up something good. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Easter sweets & sweet Surprises

Easter was certainly different this year with COVID-19 and the social distancing rules that are still in place however we managed to make the best of it. Easter church service was virtual as it has been since this all started and Easter Dinner was another Tele~Sunday Supper which is our new Sunday tradition. One thing that did not change much though was our Easter Menu. The only difference was it was a Dinner for Two. 

Let's start with dessert first, shall we! We had a medley of sweets which included Easter sugar cookies, lemon bars and a simple Angel Food cake with whipped cream on the side { for those of us that like to pile it on! }. The fun part about all the dessert was that we gave some of the lemon bars and cookies away to neighbors and family. 

As for our dinner, it was a hard choice between lamb and ham however we finally decided on ham which we do not have as often.  We also had simple but traditional sides of potatoes, asparagus, deviled eggs, fruit salad and carrots which was plenty since it was just the two of us. 

On Saturday, while I was preparing for Easter, something caught my eye as I walked past the windows by the front door. I opened the door and found a sweet surprise sitting on our front porch. It was a mason jar full of beautiful tulips and daffodils. A Grand Surprise to be sure! The thoughtful and cheerful bouquet was from our dear longtime friends. The flowers looked wonderful on our Easter table and they remind me of our friends every time I walk by. 

Our dinner for two was nice and it was great to have leftovers for a couple of days plus a pot of ham soup. The dessert is going fast so it looks like I will be baking again this weekend. As for next year, we look forward to celebrating Easter all together! 

Happy Thursday!

SEW many face masks

Yes, still making face masks. They are just so quick and easy to make and such a good way to use up some of my fabric. It is also great to be making something so useful and much needed right now. 

I currently have three patterns that I am using although the first two are still my favorite.

There are masks that I think will suit everyones style.

The more face masks I make the more ideas I have which means we have quite a few now and have also given many away. 

Recently I was asked about UofO face masks however we are Oregon State Beavers so there isn't any Oregon Duck fabric around our house. However, I aim to please so these two masks are what I came up with in a pinch. 

This is a new pattern I tried which also has the filter pocket in the back which is nice.

There are still more in progress which I hope to have finished soon but I have almost run out of elastic so I am scrambling to find some. No elastic means no more masks unless I can improvise. In the meantime I can get back to work on a new quilt that I just started.

Ah, so much sewing, so little time!

Have a Great Wednesday!

Thankful Hearts

Good news late last night inspired some journaling however it is still a work in progress.  After receiving a long awaited answer to prayer it was hard to sleep as my heart is so full of joy and thanksgiving. 

Give thanks to him and praise his name.

Psalm 100:4

from my list of: one thousand gifts

:: late night phone calls :: answered prayers :: perseverance :: determination :: hope :: JOY :: family :: children :: nurses :: doctors :: healthcare workers :: First Responders :: neighbors :: acts of kindness :: birthdays :: Tele ~ Suppers :: 

Blessings!

more DIY face masks

After I made my first face masks last week I decided to make a few more. It started with a one for my sister who loves pineapples. I had this pineapple print fabric in my stash which had her name written all over it. After seeing ours on Instagram she asked if I would make her one. Little did she know that I had one in progress.

While I was working on that one I started thinking about our niece who just got engaged a little over a month ago and it occurred to me that I should make a Bridal face mask. It was so much fun I already have another one started. 

By Friday I was preparing for our middle sons birthday and knew we needed masks. He loves golfing which made me think of a pink and yellow golf print I had.  Obviously that would not work for him but I made one with that fabric anyway and thought one of we girls could wear it or I could give it to our daughter who loves to golf. The guys though were left to choose from the other assorted DIY masks.

Now that face masks are recommended when going outside of the house due to COVID~19 we will be prepared. 

Happy Saturday!